The Cure

How They Met

"Now that class time has officially begun I'm going to read through this list of names and see who's here. If you're not here be warned that two weeks of not showing up will result in me dropping you from this course. So... anyone not here?" Professor Kent joked, earning a few scattered laughs from the class and one or two people claiming they "weren't in class," which made Professor Kent laugh and the students laugh harder.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Assholes," He joked again, more deadpan this time, causing even more laughter from the students. He waited a second for the noise to settle before looking at his sheet of paper. A few students shuffled around and one cleared his throat, waiting for the professor to start listing the names.

"Anna. Angel. An-gel? An-hel? Ángel, gotcha. Bruce. Wayne? Nah, I'm kidding. Brandy. Cierra. Charlie. Dianna. Dean. Felix. Finn. Felicity. Grace. Gina. Gloria. Henry. Henrietta? Okay. Iris. John. James. Janna. Lucy. Levi. Levi? Levi? Anyone? Levi?" Professor Kent looked up from reading his list when nobody with the name 'Levi' replied with "here."

At that second, somebody opened up the classroom door and bustled inside, taking his seat at the back of the classroom. He shuffled about with his backpack from a moment.

"Sorry that I'm late. I'm Levi, if you guys were.... taking roll." He said shortly, before looking back down at his desk and pulling out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Soon enough everyone turned away from him and back to the front.

"Alright, cool. Try not to be late. Anyways... Levi... Check. Nolan? Percy. Quincey. Rachel. Sarah. Thomas. Vivian. William. Done, and done. Just two or three missing students! Nice. So. Now that that's done... I usually like to start my classes off with a bit of an icebreaker. So we're all gonna say our names, and something about you. Something different— a major character trait, if you will— that would identify you as an individual.

"James! Did you know that there are over five million people, in the U.S. alone, who are also named James? But how many Jameses do you know that are astrophysicists? With a PhD? And ADHD? See what I did there? Every time I added a character trait to the person it narrowed down the number of others like him. Guys, in this creative writing class, I want you to not be afraid of the Mary Sues. Have one. Make one. Write one, create one— in a way that is your own! Some characters will be similar to other characters and there is nothing. wrong. with. that. Have fun. Okay— we'll start the game with— you! With the brown hair, the brown eyes, the glasses, and the Metallica shirt. Iris!" Professor Kent finished off, pointing straight at Iris. She looked a small bit nervous at being singled out, but cleared her throat anyway.

"Um— I'm Iris," She started, then quickly added, "Hi. Um... a unique character trait about me would be that... I'm one of three identical triplets," she said, matter-of-factly, and then smiled.

"Wow. I'll be sure to send your mother a 'my condolences' card. Um... ha-ha. Uuuum.... late kid. Levi. Rolling your eyes would be considered rude by most humans." He said.

"Next. James. With the not-ADHD and the not-PhD."

"Hi, I'm James... And I have over a thousand hours logged in to Call of Duty on my Steam account." He laughed.

"Yikes. Okay. Felicity. Go." Professor Kent pointed directly at Felicity, after having chuckled at James' character trait.

"Um... I'm Felicity... And I guess a unique trait would be that I actually enjoy studying and occasionally do it for fun." Se said. the professor smiled.

"Nice! Air-five for that. Okay. Levi, again with the eye-rolling, dude... you've officially volunteered yourself to go next." Professor Kent pointed him out. Everyone turned back to look at him while he talked. Felicity wondered what his problem was, rolling his eyes at her like he was so cool. She turned around with everyone else, placing her chin on her fist as her arm rested on her desk. She tried to look scrutinising.